Wildlife Tracking, Primitive, Bushcraft and Survival Skills and Crafts by the co-founder of Three Red Trees School of Natural Living

Painted Turtles Laying Eggs

Durring WMCC’s BioBlitz Deneen and I were focused on mammals though not so focused that we didn’t stop to notice all the turtle tracks, sign and living turtles that seemed to be everywhere we went. Especially on the golf course whose property is part of the White Memorial Foundation. Above and below is a painted turtle covering up the eggs she just laid.

Turtle tracks were in many of the muddy and sandy places we checked. The image above shows just the claw marks. The claws of the front foot leaves an angled crecent of holes on the left side of each group while the hind foot leaves a row of holes perpendicular to the trail.

Turtle trails in golf course sand pits.

A Painted Turtle hiding from us.

At the end of the day we returned to the turtles nest. I had seen snapping turtle eggs several times before but never these elongated painted turtle eggs. They where buried quite deeper than we had expected and were large compared to the little turtle that laid them. They must have taken up a lot of room in that shell.

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I am cofounder of Three Red Trees School of Natural Living with my wife Deneen where I work as a Nature Connection Mentor and wilderness skills instructor with a focus on primitive skills such as friction fire making, wildlife tracking, and wild edible plants. I also teach drawing, sculpture and woodcarving.
If you are interested in my services please go to threeredtrees.com